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Morning 9: TW talks MJ | Where will the Match 2 take place? | PGA Tour prioritizing ShotLink in restart?

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4 years ago

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1. Pros, Romo turning up for Texas fundraiser?
Ryan Herrington at Golf Digest…“As the PGA Tour eyes a June restart for 2019-’20 season in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a handful of tour pros anxious to compete again will reportedly get that opportunity much sooner.”
  • “According to GolfChannel.com, officials at Maridoe Golf Club outside Dallas are organizing a 54-hole fundraiser that will be played next week and include the likes of Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler, Harry Higgs and, possibly, Jordan Spieth.”
  • “The event, set for April 28-30, is expected to have a 72-player members-only field. However, members at the nearly three-year-old private facility in Carrollton, Texas, include the aforementioned tour pros, along with former Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo and former NBA guard Deron Williams, who are both expected to compete.”
2. Tiger talks MJ
Tiger Woods’ personal interviewer, Henni Zuel, video chatted with the 15-time major champion, who was, once again, inside what appears to be a padded cell…
  • Daniel Rapaport for Golf Digest transcribed a few morsels…On playing golf with Michael Jordan the day of a 1997 playoff game: “They were playing the Knicks in the ECF. I went up there and hung out with him for a few days. It was neat to be a part of…The mindset-I can relate to that. I can relate to the intensity.”
  • “On whether he’s ever known an athlete as competitive as him:”I would say 1A, 1B, myself and Michael. He’s more, I think, outwardly competitive than I am. But I have my tendencies to be a little competitive at times.”
3. ShotLink a top priority for the Tour? 
Geoff Shackelford…”GolfDigest.com’s Joel Beall and friends took a comprehensive look…at everything required to get a scaled back PGA Tour event to be played in a time of pandemic.”
  • “Combined with the Commissioner saying testing is paramount with the continued testing shortfall and the likely need for some from certain locales to 14-day quarantine before turning up in certain regions, and the chances seem remote of a June restart.”
  • “As a fan of ShotLink, this part struck me as an odd priority given the tight working space for a ShotLink truck crew and the need for some volunteers to run the system.”
  • “‘However, there are areas the Tour has identified as essential, chief among them Shotlink. The Tour’s proprietary data content is key for scoring, stats and its gambling relationships, such as with daily fantasy site DraftKings. A fully-operational Shotlink system, according to multiple officials, ranks only behind the players in tournament priority.'”
  • “Outside of scoring, I’m not sure how eager fans and players are to have that information versus a simple return to play when it’s safe to do so. Especially if setting up Shotlink impacts COVID-19 testing for those more in need.”
4. Golf as one of the safest sports? 
Golf Digest staff report here…”In consulting a series of infectious disease specialists, all of whom are still learning more about the virus themselves, several consistent themes emerge. The good news? Golf is relatively safe, especially during a time when so much else seems rife with hazard. “Golf has got to be one of the safest sports under the current circumstances,” said Dr. Charles G. Prober, a professor of pediatrics (infectious diseases) and of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University.”
“But since nothing is without risk these days, we put a series of common golf-specific questions to three experts, Dr. Prober of Stanford, Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Senior Scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security, and Dr. J. Trees Ritter, DO, Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America. Their responses should help you understand what should and shouldn’t be off limits, and where uncertainty remains. Above all, they might provide assurance that a golf course, navigated properly, can still be a refuge.”
“Can I contract the virus just walking by other golfers at the course?…“This you shouldn’t sweat. Though the virus’ main form of transmission is through person-to-person contact, all three experts emphasized just walking by other players on the course or in the parking lot was not a significant risk. “The virus doesn’t teleport from one person to another. It has to have some mechanism to get there,” Adalja said. Yes, an infected golfer could emit respiratory droplets by sneezing or coughing in your direction, but that’s why the doctors all cited the now-standard practice of maintaining a six-foot gap as a precaution. “More is better, but these respiratory droplets really don’t spread much more than spitting distance,” Dr. Ritter said. “When you’re outside, the risk is even lower.” Of course, the most important advice in this context is to tell anyone who is sick or symptomatic to stay home.”
5. Two more cancellations
Golf Digest’s John Strege…”The golf schedule took another COVID-19 hit on Friday, when the United States Golf Association announced that it has canceled the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior.”
  • “Our primary focus when making determinations around championships continues to be the safety and well-being of everyone involved,” John Bodenhamer, senior managing director of Championships for the USGA, said in a news release. “While we are incredibly disappointed to have to make the decision to cancel our two junior championships, we know it is the right one.”
  • “Part of the concern with moving forward with the tournaments is holding qualifiers in areas where large gathering are prohibited.”
6. What course matches with the Match 2? 
Craig Dolch, Special to USA Today Network…“The Medalist in Hobe Sound, Florida, is home to many of the world’s top golfers.”
  • “It also may be home for next month’s charity golf match between Tiger Woods-Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson-Tom Brady.”
  • “A Medalist member confirmed Friday the Hobe Sound-based course has been approached by event organizers about hosting the event, probably on Memorial Day weekend (May 24). Turner Sports will air “The Match: Champions for Charity” on TNT.”
  • “The Medalist makes sense. Woods, a Jupiter Island resident, is among the many superstars who are members at the club co-founded by Greg Norman in 1991. Brady recently joined nearby Seminole Golf Club and Mickelson is moving to Jupiter Island this year.”
7. Another mini-tour win for Cejka
Golf Channel’s Will Gray…”Even with most of the professional golf world still on hiatus, veteran Alex Cejka continues to rack up trophies.”
  • “The 49-year-old German has won four times on the European Tour and has earned more than $12 million in his PGA Tour career, including a win at the 2015 Puerto Rico Open. But with those circuits frozen by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cejka has stayed busy by making the rounds on the Arizona mini-tour circuit. The latest highlight came Sunday when he made a furious final-round rally to capture the 54-hole Parker Open in Parker, Ariz.”
  • “Cejka was trailing by six shots with six holes remaining, but played the next four holes in 6 under including a hole-in-one on the 198-yard 14th and an eagle on No. 16. A closing 68 got him into a playoff with Ed Olson at 14 under, which Cejka won on the first extra hole.”

 
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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

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1 hour ago

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May 7, 2024

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GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.

From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.

Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

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1 day ago

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May 6, 2024

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SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”

“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”

Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.

According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”

CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.

“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.

Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history

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Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar

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1 day ago

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May 6, 2024

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Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.

It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place

The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.

This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.

With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.

DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four

It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.

It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.

PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella

Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.

64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.

PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win

Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.

The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.

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